What Else Can I Do?

Album

Encanto (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Label

Walt Disney Records

Genre

Stage & Screen

Duration

0:00

Composer(s)

Lin-Manuel Miranda

Entered Chart

Jan 15, 2022

Peak Date

Feb 5, 2022

Released

Unknown

Recorded

Unknown

Catalog #

Walt Disney Records

Encanto is a Disney computer-animated movie that follows a multigenerational Colombian family, the Madrigals. They are led by Abuela Alma Madriga, a matriarch whose children and grandchildren – except for the youngest grandchild Mirabel - possess magical powers that help them serve the villagers in their rural community. The film features a soundtrack by In the Heights and Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda. "What Else Can I Do?" is primarily sung by the glamorous Isabela Madrigal (voiced by American actress Diane Guerrero), whose magic gift is making flowers bloom everywhere. The oldest granddaughter of Abuela Alma Madriga, Isabela is considered the golden child of her family, but she secretly struggles to maintain her perfect image. This song takes place just after Isabela has made a cactus. Tired of growing "rows and rows of roses. Flor de mayo, by the mile," she wonders "What Else Can I Do?" She confesses to Mirabel (voiced by Stephanie Beatriz) how the expectation to produce only perfect plants and behave in a glamorous way weighs heavily on her. Isabela wants to grow new and different flowers and be her authentic, imperfect, self. I wanna feel the shiver of something new I'm so sick of pretty, I want something true, don't you? Lin-Manuel Miranda took inspiration from the '90s rock en español movement. "A lot of my favorite rock songs in the '90s were Spanish rock songs," he told Associated Press. "I was thinking of Shakira and Robby Rosa. It's weirdly a '90s throwback for me, kind of the way that 'Lost In The Woods' is like a great Peter Cetera throwback for (Frozen 2 composer Jonathan) Groff. That was my '90s Rock en Español throwback, it just happens to be in English."

I just made something unexpected
Something sharp, something new
It's not symmetrical or perfect
But it's beautiful and it's mine
What else can I do?

Bring it in, bring it in
Good talk, bring it in, bring it in (what else can I do?)
Let's walk, bring it in, bring it in
Free hugs, bring it in, bring it in

I grow rows and rows of roses
Flor de mayo, by the mile
I make perfect, practiced poses
So much hides behind my smile

What could I do if I just grew what I was feelin' in the moment?
(Do you know where you're going? Whoa)
What could I do if I just knew it didn't need to be perfect?
It just needed to be? And they'd let me be?

A hurricane of jacarandas
Strangling figs (big), hanging vines (this is fine)
Palma de cera fills the air as I climb
And I push through
What else can I do?

Can I deliver us a river of sundew?
Careful, it's carnivorous, a little just won't do
I wanna feel the shiver of something new
I'm so sick of pretty, I want something true, don't you?

You just seem like your life's been a dream (whoa)
Since the moment you opened your eyes
(How far do these roots go down?)
All I know are the blossoms you grow (whoa)
But it's awesome to see how you rise
How far can I rise?
Through the roof, to the skies
Let's go

A hurricane of jacarandas (woo)
Strangling figs (go), hanging vines (grow)
Palma de cera fills the air as I climb
And I push through
What else, what else?

What can you do when you are deeply, madly, truly in the moment?
(Seize the moment, keep goin')
What can you do when you know who you wanna be is imperfect?
But I'll still be okay
Hey, everybody clear the way, woo

I'm comin' through with tabebuia (she's comin' through with that boo-yeah)
Making waves (making waves), changing minds (you've changed mine)
The way is clearer 'cause you're here, and well
I owe this all to you
What else can I do?
(Show 'em what you can do)
What else can I do?
(There's nothing you can't do)
What else can I do?